Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is an annual plant of the mulberry family,
cultivated for the production of a soft bast fiber. This fiber,
gray if dew-retted, or light yellow if water-retted, is also called
hemp. In a strict sense the name "hemp" is correctly
applied only to this plant and its fiber.

Hemp is cultivated commercially for fiber production in Russia,
Italy, Austria, Hungary, Germany, France, Belgium, Turkey, China,
Japan and the United States. Russia produces more for export
than all the other countries.

Most of the hemp cultivated in this country, amounting to from
15,000 to 20,000 acres annually, is grown in the bluegrass region
of Kentucky, of which Lexington is the center. About 600 acres
are grown each year near Lincoln, Nebr., and an area of about
the same size in the lower Sacramento Valley in California. During
the past two years hemp has been grown successfully at Kouts and
North Liberty, Ind., and at Hanover, Pa. It has also been grown
experimentally in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, and Arkansas.

CLIMATE.

Hemp requires about 110 days for its growth. It should have
a rainfall of at least 10 inches during this period. It has not
been grown commercially under irrigation. If the level of free
water in the soil is within 5 to 10 feet from the surface, as
is often the case in alluvial river-bottom lands, and the character
of the soil is such that there is good capillary action to bring
the water up, hemp will not suffer from draught, even should there
be very little rainfall. Hemp is uninjured by light frosts.
It may therefore be sown earlier than oats and harvested later
than corn.

SOIL.

Hemp requires for its best development a rich, alluvial, or
loamy soil not subject to severe drought, yet not of a swampy
condition. It is not recommended for a light sandy soil, unless
it follows a crop of clover or beans which has left a plentiful
supply of nitrogenous fertilizer. The soil should also be well
supplied with lime. Hemp will not grow well in an acid soil or
on gumbo soils. Excellent crops have been obtained in Indiana
during the past two seasons on peaty soils over marl.

The best fertilizer for the hemp crop is barnyard manure, and
this should be applied to the previous crop or, at the latest,
in the fall before sowing the hemp. Hemp may be introduced in
any crop rotation, but it is best to have it follow peas, beans,
or clover. It may follow corn or grain, providing these crops
are well fertilized. A dense growth of hemp destroys nearly all
weeds, and as it is a rather deep rooting plant and shades the
soil it leaves the land in excellent condition for any crop which
may follow.

SOWING.

Hemp seed should be sown at the rate of approximately 1 bushel
per acre at about the time of sowing oats or as early as possible
after the period of severe frosts. If possible the land should
be plowed during the previous fall. Fall plowing is essential
for success if a heavy sod or much vegetation is to be turned
under. The soil should be harrowed at least once before seeding
in order to settle the furrows.

The seed us sown broadcast by hand or by any good broadcast
seeded set for seeds smaller than average grains of wheat. Good
results are obtained with an end-gate seeder, a roller-press grain
drill, or an ordinary toothed grain drill with the teeth removed
and replaced by a board dragging on the ground below the feeding
tubes. The seed falling on the board will be spread out evenly
over the surface. The ordinary teeth cover the seed too deeply
and crowd them in drills from 6 to 8 inches apart, so that the
hemp does not grow as evenly as when it is spread over the entire
surface. the seed may be covered by means of a light straight-toothed
harrow. Drills similar to grain drills are made especially for
sowing hemp seed and are largely used in Kentucky. These hemp-seed
drills will be found most economical if large areas of hemp are
to be sown or if hemp is to be raised year after year as a regular
crop.

After seeding it is best to roll the land in order to have
a smooth surface that will permit close cutting with machinery.
After seeding the crop requires no further attention until harvesting.

HARVESTING.

Most of the hemp is now cut with self-rake reapers made especially
for harvesting this crop. These machines require 2 men, or a
man and a boy, and 4 horses for their operation and 1 man to keep
the knives sharp. They cut a swath of about 5 feet, or about
5 or 6 acres a day. They leave the hemp stalks in gavels. After
lying in the gavel for two or three days the stalks are either
spread for retting, set in shocks without binding, or tied in
bundles and set in shocks. When the harvest is late, or in the
North, where there is little danger of hot dry weather that would
"sunburn" the stalks, labor may be saved by spreading
the hemp for retting immediately after cutting. If there is danger
of hot dry weather after harvest the hemp should be cured in shocks.
If it is to be stacked it must be bound in bundles before shocking.
Stacking is not regarded as a necessary step in the preparation
of hemp, but a greater weight and also a better quality of fiber
are obtained from stalks which have been stacked. If the stacks
are properly made they may be left almost indefinitely before
retting. Three men will put up two stacks a day f about 8 tons
each.

In Nebraska the hemp is cut with a mowing machine with a special
homemade attachment, bending the stalks over in the same direction
that the machine is cutting. One man with one span of horses
will cut from 7 to 9 acres a day. The ordinary price paid there
for cutting hemp is 50 cents per acre, including team and machine.
The hemp is left on the ground as it falls until retted, when
it is raked up with a horserake and hauled to the machine brake
to be made into long tow.

RETTING.

Practically all of the hemp produced in Kentucky is dew-retted.
It is spread on the ground, either from the gavel, shock, or
stack, in rows with the stalks side by side and not more than
two, or at most three stalks in thickness, the butts all even
and in one direction. It is left in this manner for from four
to twelve weeks, or sometimes even longer, until the bark, including
the fiber, separates readily from the woody portion of the stalk.
The stalks are then raked up and set up in shocks to dry. As
soon as dried they are ready for breaking.

BREAKING.

Much of the hemp produced in Kentucky is still broken by the
old-fashioned hand brake, but this method is not recommended for
introduction into any new locality because it requires a degree
of skill that would be difficult to secure in laborers not accustomed
to the work. Even in Kentucky the newer generation of laborers
do not learn to break hemp, and this is one of the principal reasons
that the industry is not carried on there to a greater extent.
At least six different kinds of machines for breaking hemp and
preparing the fiber have been in use during the past three years,
and some of these prepare the fiber very much better than the
had brake.

At Havelock, Nebr., and at Courtland, Cal., there are power
machines consisting essentially of a series of fluted rollers,
somewhat like a just softener, followed by large beating wheels,
and these machines make long tow. They will handle a greater
variety of different-sized hemp stalks in a satisfactory manner
than the other machine brakes, but as the fiber is tangled instead
of being straight it does not command as high a price as that
produced by the hand brakes or by the other machine brakes mentioned.

YIELD.

The yield of hemp fiber ranges from 500 to 2,000 pounds to
the acre. The general average yield under ordinary conditions
is about 1,000 pounds to the acre. Yields are sometimes estimated
at 150 pounds of fiber for each foot in height of the stalks,
and also at 20 per cent of the weight of the dry, retted stalks,
but estimates based on these factors alone may be misleading for
slender stalks yield much more fiber than coarse ones.

MARKET.

All of the hemp fiber produced in this country is used in American
mills, and increasing quantities are being imported. It is used
for making gray twines, "commercial twines," carpet
warp, and ropes of small diameter.

The twenty-five mills in the United States using hemp fiber
are mostly in or near Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati,
and San Francisco.

The average price paid during the last twenty years by local
dealers to the farmers in Kentucky for the rough fiber tied up
in handmade bales has been about 5 cents a pound. The prices
during the same time for the fiber sorted, pressed in bales, and
delivered at the mills as ordered have ranged from $130 to $175
per long ton.

The market is occasionally overstocked with low-grade hemp
or tow, but there is little danger of an oversupply of good, strong,
well-cleaned fiber.

PROFITS.

The following rough outline of expenses and returns may serve
as a basis for estimating profits, keeping in mind that there
may be considerable variation either way, due to local conditions.

Cost per acre.

Seed, 1 bushel, at $4

$4.00

Plowing

2.50

Harrowing once

.50

Sowing

.75

Harrowing (omitted if special drill is used)

.50

Rolling

.50

Cutting

1.00

Shocking

1.25

Spreading for retting

1.50

Picking up

1.50

Breaking, 1,000 pounds, at 1 1/2 cents per pound

15.00

Bailing and marketing

1.00

Total cost per acre

30.00

Returns per acre.

1,000 pounds of hemp fiber, at 5 cents

$50.00

Gross returns

50.00

Hemp can not be grown profitable in small isolated areas.
Two hundred acres or more should be grown on one or more farms
near together, so as to warrant the introduction of special machinery
for drilling, harvesting, breaking, and baling, and also make
it possible to ship the fiber in full car lots.

Before undertaking the cultivation of hemp on a commercial
scale it is advisable to try some preliminary experiments with
half an acre or less, to determine whether the local conditions
are adapted to the crop.